LivingSocial To Fund Extended DC Metro Service Hours For Nationals' Playoff Games

The DC Metro Thursday announced that locally-based daily deals company LivingSocial "will fund extended Metro service" for any Nationals' playoff game that ends late, according to Berman, DeBonis & Aratani of the WASHINGTON POST. The announcement "ends weeks of uncertainty over how fans would make it home if playoff games run past Metrorail's normal closing time." Even as the Nationals clinched a playoff spot, "the standoff over who should pay for extended service dragged on, with little sign that the District, the Nationals or Metro was willing to budge." LivingSocial "will put down the $29,500 deposit required by Metro to keep the trains running for an extra hour." The Capitals, Redskins, Nationals and other event organizers "have paid for the late-night service in the past." Nationals VP/Government & Municipal Affairs Greg McCarthy, when asked why the Nationals did not put up the money like other teams had in the past, said that the team "wanted more partners involved." The deal covers up to "two hours of extra service for rides beginning at Navy Yard after weeknight games in October and November" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/28).